John McCain's New Fund Raiser

David Corn, one of Washington's longest-lasting and truly independent political reporters, digs deeper than your average Beltway journalist. Yesterday, he came up with a shocker about Fred Malek, John McCain's latest choice to be co-chairman of his campaign finance drive.

Corn, quoting an older Slate article says: "It's one of the more gothic stories about Nixon related in Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's The Final Days."

Woodward's own newspaper, the Washington Post, oddly enough has nothing to say about it. Asks Corn --

Is McCain, who once upon a time campaigned as a good-government candidate, truly inspired by Malek's days as a Nixon lieutenant, when Malek tallied Jews, rigged government contracts, and improperly influenced law enforcement and regulatory decisions?

Answers Corn:

If McCain has to turn to Malek for help in fundraising, his campaign surely is in difficult straits.